Online retailer LiBoutique sells brand-name beauty products for the mature woman. The company’s main goal was to reach and target new clientele with Google Shopping. Partnering with JumpFly, a pay-per-click management company, LiBoutique upgraded its existing PLA campaigns to a new campaign type called Shopping campaigns. With Shopping campaigns, LiBoutique successfully connected with its customers, increasing conversions 37% and tripling ROI.
Goals
Gain more exposure in the retail space
Reach more of the LiBoutique target audience
Approach
Upgraded its Product Listing Ad (PLA) campaigns to Shopping campaigns
Created product groups for each brand
Analyzed SKU-level performance to optimize bids
Results
Lowered CPA and maintained a steady CPC
Increased conversions 37%
Tripled ROI, which continues to improve
LiBoutique is an online retailer selling brand-name beauty products for the mature woman. Two-thirds of first-time customers return to make additional purchases. To reach and serve these target customers, the online retailer switched to Shopping campaigns in Google AdWords.
More exposure and traffic Working with JumpFly, a pay-per-click (PPC) management company, LiBoutique started using Product Listing Ads (PLAs) in February 2012. ”We wanted to gain more exposure and traffic, and PLAs offered the dynamics of being both very targeted and rich in content,” says Sarah Karity, LiBoutique chief marketing officer (CMO). ”It was really a no-brainer. We started using it and haven’t looked back.”
The company then made the natural transition to Shopping campaigns in November 2013. Shopping campaigns are an intuitive way to manage PLAs and sell your products on Google. You manage a Shopping campaign much the same way you manage a store. You can browse inventory and group the products you want to bid on, all in AdWords. And to help you optimize and scale your PLAs, Shopping campaigns provide insights into your competitive landscape with benchmark data, impression share and a bid simulator.
Better insights into performance ”I immediately thought of LiBoutique when Shopping campaigns came out,” says Nikki Kuhlman, a JumpFly account executive. ”Setup was incredibly easy and fast. With new Shopping campaigns, we were able to easily subdivide the product groups by brand and give different bids to them. It was simple to set up a campaign exactly how we wanted it.”
JumpFly tested Shopping campaigns for LiBoutique by running its first campaign at the same time as a standard PLA campaign. It subdivided product groups by brand in the new campaign and gave them different bids. ”Shopping campaigns give better insight into performance,” Kuhlman adds. ”They give more granular control because they have full transparency all the way down to the SKU level.”
LiBoutique also found Shopping campaigns to be a very useful tool for testing new product lines and promotions such as flash sales. ”We can gauge potential before having to go through keyword research,” Karity explains. ”We just add the brand or product type and give it a little time to accrue data. With this information, we can make informed decisions on product launches.”
The benefits of Shopping campaigns can’t be overstated.
Improved performance and reporting The new Shopping campaign proved so successful that within a week the company paused the original PLA campaign. JumpFly found Shopping campaigns easier to use, and the campaigns improved because the company could easily break out products and manage detailed bids. The cost-per-acquisition (CPA) was much lower with the Shopping campaign. The conversion rate jumped 37%, while the cost-per-click remained steady. More importantly, the return on investment (ROI) almost tripled and continues to improve.
”We send custom reports to our clients on a monthly basis,” Kuhlman says. ”Now that Google is supporting Shopping campaigns in the API, all of the important numbers are pulled into our reports. It makes a big difference for us.” JumpFly creates reports on LiBoutique”s Shopping campaigns with the AdWords application programming interface (API).
Higher ROI ”The benefits of Shopping campaigns can’ be overstated,” Kuhlman says. ”The ease of setup, transparency of data, ability to group products in logical categories and ability to manage to the product level make it a must. All of these contribute to getting LiBoutique a higher ROI.”
JumpFly finds Shopping campaigns particularly effective for breaking out product groups into smaller subsets. ”I’m able to lower bids on items that might be very popular but don’t convert, and raise bids on the items that actually convert,” Kuhlman says. ”That lets me control the spend much better and ultimately gives better ROI.”
